Terrapin Mountain Marathon+++

Well most of you by now have probably seen my pics from this past weekends Terrapin Mountain Marathon+++. I add the +++ because it was not really the 26.9 miles that Clark had said it was. 3 different people had their dorkulators on and had it around 30 miles instead. I can't get mad at that because Clark is a Horton disciple and so the extra miles just come with it.

So here we go once again. I got the crazy idea about running this race way back in November at Mountain Masochist. I think it was at the awards dinner or the pre race briefing at the HS lunch room. Either way Horton had talked about this new BEAST Series and had all the races layed out on a big board. So being the type of person I am I said what the hell and wanted to check them out. So the second race in the series is Terrapin Mountain Marathon+++. And I thought this looked like a great yet challenging race that I would like to give it a go at.

So that all got the ball rolling from there. As I would looking at the dates and all I found out that Terrapin Mountain and HAT was on the same weekend and the same day actually. So I thought to myself that I have already done HAT last year and I wanted a new challenge and to try something different. So I immediately decided I would run Terrapin Mountain. Now here is the problem that usually happens with me and races. I decide that I really want to run something yet put off registering for the race for some odd reason. Maybe it's the fact that in the back of my mind I am giving myself an out just incase I don't want to do or feel I can't do it. And so what usually happens is that I put it off till the last minute and cross my fingers that I get in. So the same thing ended up happening with this race. I think it was only in late Jan or early Feb that I finally signed up and commited myself to this race.

So March 29th came up pretty quick on me, but I knew it was coming and was getting pretty excitied. My plan was to go to class friday morning, then walk dogs, and hit the road as soon as I was done with my last dog. So after the last dog was done I hit the road and got on 495 and then 66. As you can tell the traffic really does suck on 66. So I said OH GREAT this is going to take forever to get down to the race. Luckily I was not too worried since I can always pick up the packet race morning. Well the traffic did not last long and I finally got onto 81 and the long drive south.

Well after about 4 1/2 to 5 hours of sitting in the car driving I finally get down to the Sedalia Center where the start finish for the race is. There ofcourse is already a bunch of cars there since the packet pickup and food started at like 4 I think. This is not a problem because I walk around and find Clark and Horton walking around setting things up and talking to others.

After I pick up my packet and walk around a bit and take more pics and talk with horton and others I decide it's time to hit the car and get my running stuff ready for the next day. I then decide to watch 300 again on my IPOD and hit the sack. I think I got some pretty good sleep and got up around 5 and hit the bathroom and finished getting everything ready for the big day. Of course we always have to get a pre race pic while we are still smiling and not too sore to stand up . After taking a few pics of others getting ready to start and clark gives us his last minute goodbyes we are off and on a long journey.

From the start we head off onto some gravel roads for about a mile or two which really suck but it still beats running on the road. We then head up a hill where horton is pointing us in the right direction. He is also there so we don't cheat and go right. You can tell by the pics. After this climb and we get to the aidstaion which is about 4 or 5 miles into the race the marathoners then precede to go left and half marathoners go right. Once we head off left it starts to look really familiar and JR who I ran most of the race with tells me that this is the Promise Land section or the race. And it's that long, long, long up and down grassy jeep roads that are ok but still suck. We get to AidStaion 2 which is unmanned and is right where at Promise land we would go up the hill but on race day we kept running down the hill. All of this you can tell by the pics I took. Now this section really was long and kinda boring but it helped to be running with JR who was totally awesome to run with. We also run into Kerry Owens who tells us that she is pretty tired from her race the previous weekend. Once we get to the turn around of this out and back portion we come to AidStation 3 which is actually the first AidStaion of promise land at the top of the really long climb on the gravel road. This is where MOM and DAD and DAUGHTER are. If you have run any of Hortons races you know who I am talking about. After this AidStation we turn around and run back to where the Full and Half marathoners split. I was so happy to get back to this aid station because I was a little tired and needed something to eat.

This is a pic of myself right before our big climb up to the summit of Terrapin Mountain. I was thinking about this point this is really going to suck and JR told me that he was not looking foward to it at all either. After we started climbing I thought to myself this really is not that bad at all. This after running Buzzards which had 5 really tough climbs. So making it up to the top really was not that bad at all. Now don't get the wrong idea this climb still sucked but it was not really tougher than any climbs I have been up before. Once at the top we were able to stop for a quick break and to catch our breaths. Now the views up here were totally awesome.

The from up here was so beautiful. And as you can tell I am holding one of the two pages we were told we had to rip out of a book to make our run official once we were done. After our short little break up at the summit we were off again to our next adventure which would be Fat Man's Missery. Now Clark had mentioned this in some emails and told us about it before the race but really nothing more. So once JR and myself go to the rock formations we were in awe and really understood why it's called Fat Man's Missery. And as you can tell below it really is tight.

After squeezing down through this we had to crawl through a little hole to get to the other side. And this is where we had to rip out our second page out of a book and carry with us to the finish. This part I really did enjoy because it was unique and something different. That is what I really like about different ultras is that there is always something different and adventourous about them.

Now after getting through Fat Man's Missery we did not have too much longer till the last AidStaion. And from there they say it's about 5 or so miles to go. But both JR and myself know it's probably longer. And we know when we ask the AidStaion volunteers what the distance is that we need to add a little extra to whatever they say. So we finally leave the last aidstation and make our way back to the finish. This last little section really was the easiest of the whole course.

This is where I just want to finish and pick it up a bit and leave JR behind. Although not that far behind. I finally make it back to the gravel road and say to myself oh gosh this sucks. But I suck it up and run the rest of the way and cross the finish line in 7:06 and some change. I was pretty happy with that time given the distance and the tough course. I really did enjoy it.

Just a pic of Clark and myself with my really really cool medal around my neck. I will have to show everyone the medal.

So overall I totally had a great time at Terrapin Mountain Marathon+++. Really is a great race and support is pretty good. I would deff reccommend this race and would love to go down and run it again. Oh yeah it totally does pay to stick around and watch others finish. Clark had some really nice gear to give away/raffle off. Of course my name is never called. But I stuck it out till the end. And with the last draw prize of the day Clark says he has a Patagonia Houdini Pack to give away. And I think to myself with fingers crossed PLEASE CALL MARK MCKENNETT. And sure enough he calls out my name and I say to myself YES finally hehehehe.

So for me this past weekend really was a success and I had such a great time. I hope everyone enjoyed my report and no one gets too bored reading it. Sorry If I did not put the link to all the pics up on here correctly but I am still learning.

http://picasaweb.google.com/PDT129/TerrapinMountainMaratonPics?authkey=tAOFfHdMIqw